Take the Chaos Out of Fresh Produce Distribution

Choosing the best ERP software system to run your produce business is one of the most important decisions a company can make. Each platform caters to the subtle nuances of different sectors across the fresh produce industry.

Famous Software has carved out a niche among large retail organizations, offering tools that align with the complexity of high-volume operations. Produce Pro, a tried-and-true option, is a favorite among terminal markets and distributors who value stability and familiarity. Our software of choice at Carbonella & DeSarbo, GoPure, is an ideal solution for FOB shippers and regional distributors like ourselves.

GoPure allows us to operate efficiently, accurately and confidently across all areas of our business, from sales and inventory to accounting and logistics. Its intuitive interface, affordability, and clean transaction tracking logs made it a no-brainer for us. But, like every ERP system on the market, it had a gap — business intelligence and analytics.

In today’s data-driven world, accurate and effective decision-making requires more than a gut feeling. The ability to make smart choices hinges on hard facts derived from real-time data.

While ERP platforms store vast amounts of transactional data, extracting insights from that data is often a tedious process. We found ourselves cobbling together spreadsheets, exporting PDFs, and manually calculating metrics — losing valuable time and, often, context. Gut instinct, while helpful, can be clouded with emotion.

Our chief executive, Vinnie Caliendo, says that meaningful data should be no more than “three clicks away.” That mantra guided us toward integrating our ERP system with Microsoft Power BI — a platform that has completely transformed how we view our business.

The moment we connected GoPure to Power BI, it was like someone turned the lights on in the room. Suddenly, we had the ability to visualize performance trends, identify inefficiencies, and act quickly on insights that previously took hours or even days to discover. Instead of waiting for month-end reports to spot issues, we now detect them in near real-time.

I still remember the first time Power BI helped us catch a drop-off in ordering from one of our longtime customers. We hadn’t noticed it during our normal weekly reviews, but Power BI flagged the change in order pattern. Our sales rep made a quick call, learned the customer was trialing a competitor, and we were able to address the issue before we lost the business. Without that dashboard, we probably wouldn’t have caught it in time.

What makes Power BI so impactful is its flexibility and visual storytelling. With customizable dashboards we can track KPIs, such as sales by customer, item velocity, margin trends, spoilage, delivery accuracy and purchasing patterns. These dashboards aren’t just for executives — they’re shared with salespeople, buyers, warehouse leads, and customer service reps so everyone is aligned on what’s happening and where we’re headed.

There are other platforms on the market that function similarly — Tableau, Qlik Sense, Looker, and IBM Cognos, to name a few. With the help of a capable IT consultant or internal tech lead, these platforms can connect directly to your ERP and render data into interactive visuals. Gone are the days of manually creating Excel reports or making critical decisions based solely on intuition. Now, data is not only accessible — it’s actionable.

We’ve built over 40 unique dashboards across departments, each one tailored to a specific business need. When our sales team wants to know whether a customer has dropped certain SKUs, they don’t need to ask accounting or operations to run a report. They simply click into their BI dashboard, filter by customer, and immediately see order trends over time. This empowers our team to be more proactive, responsive and customer-focused.

We’ve also found that integrating financial metrics with operational data paints a fuller picture of our business health. By layering purchasing and sales data with AP/AR insights, we can track margin compression, price fluctuations, and vendor performance — all within the same dashboard. This 360-degree view helps us manage costs, make smarter procurement decisions, and ensure that we’re investing resources in the right places.

At Carbonella & DeSarbo, Power BI has also helped us foster a data-first culture. When everyone — from the owner to the forklift operator — can see the impact of their actions reflected in real-time data, accountability and performance naturally improve. We’ve become a more agile, transparent and informed organization.

The fresh produce industry isn’t just about freshness anymore — it’s about foresight. With razor-thin margins, short shelf lives, and constant market volatility, those who can harness the power of their data will outpace those who can’t. ERP systems lay the foundation, but tools like Power BI unlock their true potential.

In an era where every decision counts, it’s not enough to have data — you need to use it. And when done right, business intelligence isn’t just a tool, it’s a competitive advantage.

Maria DeSarbo is president of Carbonella & DeSarbo, Branford, CT.